Genesis 9:9-17

9:9 “Look! I now confirm ¹  my covenant with you and your descendants after you ²  9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature of the earth. ³  9:11 I confirm ⁴  my covenant with you: Never again will all living things ⁵  be wiped out ⁶  by the waters of a flood; ⁷  never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee ⁸  of the covenant I am making ⁹  with you ¹⁰  and every living creature with you, a covenant ¹¹  for all subsequent ¹²  generations: 9:13 I will place ¹³  my rainbow ¹⁴  in the clouds, and it will become ¹⁵  a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 Whenever ¹⁶  I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ¹⁷  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ¹⁸  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ¹⁹  all living things. ²⁰  9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ²¹  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things ²²  that are on the earth.”

Isaiah 54:7-10

54:7 “For a short time I abandoned ²³  you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.

54:8 In a burst ²⁴  of anger I rejected you ²⁵  momentarily,

but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you,”

says your protector, ²⁶  the Lord.

54:9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, ²⁷ 

when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood ²⁸  would never again cover the earth.

In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

54:10 Even if the mountains are removed

and the hills displaced,

my devotion will not be removed from you,

nor will my covenant of friendship ²⁹  be displaced,”

says the Lord, the one who has compassion on you.

Hebrews 6:17-18

6:17 In the same way ³⁰  God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, ³¹  and so he intervened with an oath, 6:18 so that we who have found refuge in him ³²  may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

[9:9]  ¹ tn Heb “I, look, I confirm.” The particle הִנְנִי (hinni) used with the participle מֵקִים (meqim) gives the sense of immediacy or imminence, as if to say, “Look! I am now confirming.”

[9:9]  ² tn The three pronominal suffixes (translated “you,” “your,” and “you”) are masculine plural. As v. 8 indicates, Noah and his sons are addressed.

[9:10]  ³ tn The verbal repetition is apparently for emphasis.

[9:11]  ⁴ tn The verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is a perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive and should be translated with the English present tense, just as the participle at the beginning of the speech was (v. 9). Another option is to translate both forms with the English future tense (“I will confirm”).

[9:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “cut off.”

[9:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “and all flesh will not be cut off again by the waters of the flood.”

[9:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “sign.”

[9:12]  ⁹ sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.

[9:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “between me and between you.”

[9:12]  ¹¹ tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:12]  ¹² tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.

[9:13]  ¹³ tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is used rhetorically, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Other translation options include “I have placed” (present perfect; cf. NIV, NRSV) and “I place” (instantaneous perfect; cf. NEB).

[9:13]  ¹⁴ sn The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.

[9:13]  ¹⁵ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here has the same aspectual function as the preceding perfect of certitude.

[9:14]  ¹⁶ tn The temporal indicator (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah, conjunction + the perfect verb form), often translated “it will be,” anticipates a future development.

[9:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

[9:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to destroy.”

[9:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:16]  ²¹ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[9:17]  ²² tn Heb “all flesh.”

[54:7]  ²³ tn Or “forsook” (NASB).

[54:8]  ²⁴ tn According to BDB 1009 s.v. שֶׁטֶף the noun שֶׁצֶף here is an alternate form of שֶׁטֶף (shetef, “flood”). Some relate the word to an alleged Akkadian cognate meaning “strength.”

[54:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I hid my face from you.”

[54:8]  ²⁶ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:9]  ²⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “For [or “indeed”] the waters of Noah [is] this to me.” כִּי־מֵי (ki-me, “for the waters of”) should be emended to כְּמֵי (kÿmey, “like the days of”), which is supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and all the ancient versions except LXX.

[54:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the waters of Noah” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[54:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “peace” (so many English versions); NLT “of blessing.”

[6:17]  ³⁰ tn Grk “in which.”

[6:17]  ³¹ tn Or “immutable” (here and in v. 18); Grk “the unchangeableness of his purpose.”

[6:18]  ³² tn Grk “have taken refuge”; the basis of that refuge is implied in the preceding verse.